The comments came as part of an informational hearing called by members of the state Board of Equalization to figure out how to give banking services to the marijuana business so operators can pay taxes. Attendees included state officials, marijuana retailers and representatives of financial institutions.

A company in the San Francisco area is delivering bitcoin-purchased medicinal cannabis to customers via drone.

Trees, which claims to sell the "highest quality" medicinal cannabis to people holding a medical recommendation, accepts payments in bitcoin alongside traditional payment methods such as cash, online bank transfer and credit cards.

The service requires users to provide their driving and medical license when ordering. To get medical approval, consumers must have a short evaluation with a doctor, either online or at a clinic.

Medical marijuana has come as welcome news for plenty of California citizens, but it’s also created a zoning headache for many cities and would-be dispensaries, according to Next City.

For California patients, Thanksgiving is coming early this year: Melinda Haag, the US Attorney for the Northern District of California and the bane of medical marijuana growers and distributors from Humboldt County to San Jose, will resign her office on September 1st, according to the San Jose Mercury News. Haag announced her resignation after notifying US Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

When you think of popular retirement destinations, Florida and Arizona likely come to mind.

But according to Reuters, some U.S. retirees are considering more than warm weather, good health care and close proximity to grandkids when deciding where to retire. Many American seniors are choosing to enjoy their golden years in a marijuana-friendly state.

Chris Cooper is a 57-year-old retired investment adviser from Ohio. He opted to retire in San Diego because California has legalized medical marijuana use. Cooper, who doesn’t like heavy-duty prescription painkillers like Vicodin, told Reuters that marijuana eases his back pain and spasms.

THE first time you meet Robin, it’s easy to be misled by her fragile appearance. She’s in her 40s and painfully thin, and she grips her aluminum walker with hands that have been twisted by rheumatoid arthritis. But she’s both tough and resourceful, and she doesn’t give up easily.

I met Robin and many others like her at a California medical marijuana clinic where I was doing research for a book. She was one of almost a dozen patients seeking recommendation letters that would let them buy marijuana at designated dispensaries.

I asked how marijuana helped her.

“I can’t live without it,” she told me.

SEATTLE — King County prosecutor Dan Satterberg said medical pot shops have been selling marijuana illegally for years and that will end soon after he serves lawsuits to 15 collectives in unincorporated parts of the county in the coming days.

For years, the NW Cannabis Collective catered to its clients seeking medicine for pain and other conditions.

NW Cannabis CEO Michael Keysor said, “Most of these patients have been given up on by doctors. They have no answers for them.”

This month, he received a letter from authorities telling him to shut down or be sued. He says a forced closure will kill his business for good.

MJNA Moves Forward With Prosecuting Libel Claims Made Against the Company and Its Brands, Case Now in Discovery Phase

This week’s best city stories from around the web talk about marijuana zones in California, a forgotten waterway under the streets of Auckland, a mushroom farm in Camden and mime-artist-assisted traffic control in Bogotá. We’d love to hear your responses to these stories, and any others you’ve read recently, both on Guardian Cities and elsewhere. Just share your thoughts in the comments below.

Pot city

As Breitbart News reported in “Pot Tax: Sacramento Politicians ‘Jonesing’ for a Spending Fix,” the Democrat-controlled California Legislature is desperate for marijuana taxes, which could arise from a 2016 ballot initiative legalizing marijuana, in hopes of gaining a consistent new tax revenue source.

However, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) estimates that illegal pot growing is drying up watersheds and causing some at-risk fisheries to approach collapse.